Ananya Panday talks about facing 'casual sexism' in early phase of her career: Was asked to 'fill up a little more'

Ananya Panday, who made her feature film debut with Student of the Year 2 in 2019, has quickly become a household name. Though she is often counted and called out for her privilege of coming from a film family, she has still faced her shares of hurdles.

In a recent appearance on The Ranveer Show, hosted by internet personality Ranveer Allahbadia aka BeerBiceps, the 23-year-old opened up about being on receiving sexist treatment during the initial phase of her acting career. 

Panday shared that while she was never promised a role in a movie by any filmmaker but she always knew that she wanted to be an actor. She also asserted that she never thought the journey was going to be easy.

The young actor also shared that she was often told to alter her appearance through thinly veiled sexist comments, which she found "hurtful." 

Also read — Ananya Panday on her biggest takeaway from Gehraiyaan: Don’t be judgmental about relationships 

Panday told Allahbadia, "As soon as I started working, people started saying things like ‘you should fix this and fix that, like get a boob job or change something about your face. And, it is said very casually and not in direct words that you sometimes even don’t pick it up. They would say, ‘just fill up a little more. Put on some weight.'”

The actor also questioned whether there is "nothing about me paramount to my waist size or chest size." She added that judging someone on the basis of the body was the "worst thing" someone can do. 

Watch the interview here:

Panday was last seen in Shakun Batra-directed Gehraiyaan with Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi. The film is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video. Her next on-screen appearance will be with Telugu actor Vijay Deverakonda in the Hindi film Liger.

Also read — Exclusive! Ananya Panday on Gehraiyaan: I liked the messiness, complexity, honesty of the film